Lady Chatterley

Posted by Loukas Tsouknidas (loukas@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 4, 2007

It’s hard enough to concentrate on a film that brings the word “erotica” to mind, without the lover reminding you of “Bluto” Blutarsky. That’s what happened to me when I saw Lady Chatterley, a nice but spineless interpretation of that notorious old novel which deals with a married noble girl’s love for her husband’s farm keeper.

Constance Chatterley lives at a large estate, married to Clifford, a handicapped man that can’t walk or procreate any more. One day she decides to stroll around her land and meets Bluto, sorry, Parkin, the groundskeeper. Constance returns to see him the next day, and the next, and so on until a sexual affair is sparked between them that ultimately results in a pregnancy. When Clifford gives Constance permission to have another man’s baby, as long as he is a nobleman, she leaves on a trip to cover up anything that might lead to Parkin, who is obviously no noble. When Constance returns, things are a bit different at the estate…

Pascale Ferran took on the challenge of remaking a film that has been done many times for many different purposes. She obviously wanted to portray the innocent nature that ultimately drives Constance towards Parkin–dreams of maternity and her need for a strong lover. While this movie isn’t about the lover, it is about a woman who starts as a follower and becomes a leader, in the process working to find balance in an outlawed relationship.

Ferran breaks the film into small segments of action, some more relevant than others, but most of them weak compared to the more intimate ones. The annoying narration interchanged throughout the film with title cards in order to inform the audience of Constance’s situation is a gimmick that feels more or less useless. In addition, a certain political conversation that tries to bring up class issues is at best laughable.

Marina Hands is cute but nothing more. Jean-Louis Coullo’ch tries hard to stay in the background and–certain similarities aside–he succeeds. The stronger presence in the film is that of the crippled husband, Hippolyte Girardot, who sets the tone for the scenes in which he appears.

Ferran’s version of Lady Chatterley is an honest movie with sweet moments. Unfortunately, when you fill two and a half hours with sweetness and class guilt, you’re just asking the audience to be bored.

Read more articles by Loukas Tsouknidas